Generally, a speed of around 10 Mbps should be sufficient for most basic Internet functions, like general web browsing or streaming music and video. To learn more about downloading, uploading, and the difference between the two, review our lesson on downloading and uploading. This is typically measured in megabits per second ( Mbps) and is a calculation of the speed at which your Internet is performing when surfing the Web and downloading files. You'll mostly be interested in your connection's download speed, or how fast you're able to pull data from other servers.